


The Best Christmas

by AristaStarfyr



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:10:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AristaStarfyr/pseuds/AristaStarfyr
Summary: This is the first Christmas where the Hamatos can celebrate as a complete family.  This happens several years after Caro Mio Ben so there are LOTS of interesting things.This was written for the TMNT countdown to Christmas.  There was a communication snafu, so I have submitted my piece fashionably late.





	The Best Christmas

How the hell did he get so lucky? It was a rhetorical question as he watched his husband put together the tricycle with a cheery whistle, seemingly unaware that he had an audience. He had a set of tools home so he didn't have to bring anything back from work. That would have been a clear sign that they were up to something and that was the _last_ thing they wanted to do. Suspicion was not going to be in their favor to pull this off.

All secrecy aside, he watched clever fingers wind screws into place, then tighten down with a wrench. Such thick, unassuming looking fingers yet he knew how dexterous they could be; how damaging they could be. When age stated a claim on them, he was certain arthritis would set into those digits. He was slated for the same fate though for only marginally different reasons. Now wasn't the time to worry about it. Despite all his friends teasing him about finding his husband when he was way past college, he felt young--and joyful as he listened to his husband hum along to the carol that was murmuring from the wi-fi speaker. To be honest, his husband looked too rough to be doing something so domestic as assembling a child's toy, yet it was so perfect. He was more at home in the kitchen or here tinkering on something than in some fighting ring. But those rippling muscles! Even if he didn't think that his husband _looked_ proper in the fighting ring, he couldn't imagine him without this magnificent physique. All he wanted to do was run his fingers across the massive cords of strength and be caged up in their warmth.

"See somethin' ya like?" The tone was a low, sultry purr and toxic green eyes flicked up from their work to look at him.

Leo's mouth went dry.

Raphael smirked, setting the wrench down instead of dropping it onto the tray and make a sound. "Come're." His fingers didn't care one whit of the heavy silk shirt and tugged Leo in for one of those infamously ravenous kisses. Leonardo eagerly surrendered, touching Raph's cheek with a feather-light pressure before sliding them to the back of the brawler's neck. A curr followed and Leo realized belatedly the sound was from both of them.

"Keep doin' that an I won't finish this," his voice had taken on a deeper timbre, causing Leo's toes to curl.

"You shouldn't be so weak to let yourself be distracted." A clear challenge. Leo _loved_ to torment and tease. It made it so much better and he could tell through their bond that it was working.

With a growl, Raphael pounced upon his husband, pushing him back against the couch. For the next twenty minutes, the toys were ignored.

 

************

 

The great room was draped in luxurious Christmas splendor. A real tree that reached the ceiling was dripping in lights and ornaments; the expensive glass ones hung on the upper half while the bottom half contained plastic baubles. Their son still had yet understood the ornaments were for looking decorations only and not balls for throwing. Under the tree were piles and piles of presents flanking either side of the tree were two bikers: one a tricycle and the other a two-wheeler with training wheels. 

Raphael sprawled out on the couch with Leo tucked into his side, enjoying how the lights lazily blinked on and off with no readily apparent pattern to them. Leonardo was sleeping ...or dozing, one of the two. The room had been finally staged and he wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet just a little bit longer. Who cared it was four in the morning?

Not one little girl who thought she could slop into the room silently. She was a slip of a thing, dressed in a flannel nighty that dragged to her knobby knees. Her waist-length black hair had been pulled back into two braided tails with the plaits with chaotic disarray of strands here and there. Almond shaped eyes were wide, matching the 'o' form of her mouth as she took in the sight. A moment later, she realized her mistake.

"What time is it, Em?"

Crud. Her father was awake! "Christmas?" she whispered, looking to her parents on the couch. Was Papa sleeping? It was hard to tell with him and she didn't want to wake him.

"Not until six," Raph rumbled as his brow ridges furrowed.

"Still Christmas," she responded rebelliously, showing her sharp mind. "As of zero-hundred hours."

"And no one gets up before six." 

"You're up before six." She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout and Raphael's heart seized. Emmi may not have been a mutant turtle but she picked up Leo's mannerisms like ti was nothing. That was _Leo's_ pout staring right back at him with dangerous, dark eyes. Sighing softly, he patted the cushion next to his leg and Emmi eyed the invitation before climbing up to cuddle against her father's side, eyes turning to the tree.

Raph circled his other arm around his daughter, nearly touching her into his side between plastron and carapace. He thought about the moment, smiling softly. The moment was quiet and peaceful and almost perfect. "You know this is going to be your brother's first Christmas, right?"

Emmi, in her six-year-old wisdom, looked to her father with wide eyes. "No. He's not a baby."

"Doubt very much when he was elsewhere, he had a _real_ Christmas."

"When was your first real Christmas, Daddy?" He thought she would have asked what the difference a real Christmas was and wasn't. The question threw Raph for a moment. Then he felt Leo shift and he knew that Leo was listening but still pretended to sleep.

"I was fifteen," Raphael started softly, gently rubbing Emmi's arm to lull her back to sleep--he hoped. "I was with Mrs. Dawson, then. And she tried to make it _magical_. It wasn't much, but there was a tree-"

"Big like this one?"

"Naw. Small tree. It stood on a table top. But it had lights and bird ornaments."

"What did Santa bring you?"

That was going to be interesting. Raphael assumed that Emmi wanted to know what massive toys he had brought to him. He knew that his children lived in the lap of luxury and were never left wanting. What would she think if he answered the truth? "He...I always got scarves and mittens and hats, new boots. That first year I got a drawing set and a sketchbook."

She turned to look up at her father, waiting expectantly. When she realized that Raph wasn't going to add anything else, she looked back to the tree and the mountain of presents. "That's it?"

"It was the best first Christmas I ever had," Raphael reminisced, his eyes trailing back tot he tree. "I had warm hands and head...and I could draw. It was good."

The little girl brightened and she bit her lip like she was holding a secret. "That's what made it special? That you were warm and could do something you like?"

"Yep. And I was with people who cared about me." 

The little girl was silent for a while. Thinking over what her father had said. Raph chose to remain quiet, letting her digest what he said. He did respond to Leo's slight squeeze by squeezing back. 

"Okay." And like that, Emmi stood up on the cushions and flung her arms around Raph's neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to show Liam all the best things about Christmas."

" _When?_ " Raph prompted, giving her a gentle nuzzle in return.

"Oh-six hundred hours."

"Atta girl." As Emmi headed back towards the bedrooms. Raph felt a hand turn his cheek and suddenly met the hungry mouth of his mate. The surprise was quickly replaced with smug satisfaction as he made Leo work for that dominance. Leonardo shifted, straddling Raph's hips, playing with the sweatshirt once their lips parted. "See something ya like?"

"Mmmm," the complete focus Leo ad for his husband made Raph's head swoon. The combined lust made them both gasp. "Found something absolutely _alluring_." Leo had to pause. Raphael's fingers were too tight on Leo's thighs even though the big turtle's expression oozed bravado and challenge. He eased back, smiling coyly, watching and feeling Raph's desire jump. "Come to bed. You being a perfect father makes me want to ride you."

Now _that_ was something Raphael could get behind! He grinned, shifting upwards and non-plussed that Leo gracefully stood up. "We still got a couple hours and I still have yer Christmas present wrapped up for ya."

Leo's smile made Raph's heart leap. That small, come hither... _I dare you to get me._ Made the big turtle practically growl. He would never be able to resist it. "Do you want to know when my first Christmas was?"

"Pfft, easy. Ain't like your uncle would celebrate that. I got this in the bag! It was yer first one with me." Raph was so confident in his reply that the first thought that Leo was lying when the crime boss shook his head. 

"It was one first Christmas with Emmi," Leo clarified as they centered their bedroom and closed the door. "I saw the magic of this holiday through her eyes. I know she was a little baby and she wouldn't remember it but the innocence she had about all the lights..." Leo looked back to Raphael's toxic green eyes and the turtle practically offered a shy smile. "And then watching you explain everything to her even though she was too young to understand any of it."

The memories Leonardo prompted softened Raphael's expression. The way Emmi squealed and shrieked at the shiny lights, creating a magic that he had only dreamed about. "So what's this Christmas gunna be?"

"Our first Christmas as a complete family."

 

***********************************

 

Oh-six hundred came a couple hours later yet Emmi was still bright-eyed about it. "Santa was here last night! You can tell because of all the presents and he ate the cookies and milk we left for him. Daddy said that was important because he has lots and lots of houses to visit."

Behind her toddled one little Liam. He was all limb and boney joints, nearly reaching Emmi's head. With deep brown eyes, he trailed behind his elder sister, lips pressed together tightly as he clung to her hand. When they rounded the corner to reach the great room, his frill shot up, framing his head in bright red, peacock blue and green nearly as vivid as Raphael's eyes. Even his tail stuck straight out behind him in surprise. The child had never seen anything so extravagant before in his young life and he stared in awe as Emmi babbled on, realizing his hand. The frilled lizard just stood there, completely entranced.

"Come on, Liam! This is your pile here. Papa said we can't open them until breakfast is done. But you got a bike? Why didn't Santa wrap the bikes?" Perking up, the grill on the mutant child's neck straightened one moment before settling down. He toddled over to the pile Emmi was gesturing at dragging a purple blankie with him.

Raphael and Leo watched from the doorway, leaning up against each other. Liam had been with them for only a couple months and the child hadn't even spoken yet. Raph was a little concerned but Leo had tried his best to reassure the big turtle that it was fine. Liam had been through a _lot_ and the child needed time to decompress and learn to trust them. And that could take a long time.

"Cause Santa didn't have bike shaped wrapping paper," Raph responded wryly.

"Merry Christmas, Daddy!" The little girl lit up the room with her grin and she made a running head start to leap fearlessly into her father's arms. Raphael snatched her out of the air and swung her around. Liam started a little bit and watched where he stood with big eyes, his frill jittery with every loud noise. Emmi practically fell from Raph to Leonardo. He squeezed her with a grunt and a nuzzle to the side of her head.

The adults settled onto the couch as they watched the children faun all over the presents and shake a few bones to try and figure out what was in them. Emmi did plenty of talking to cover Liam's silence. The toddler still took great joy in shaking a couple boxes, grinning toothily as he listened to the rattle.

Breakfast was cinnamon buns and bacon and eggs with a special side of protein shake for Liam. The child had been nearly starved before Raphael rescued him so trying to reintroduce nutrition proper for a frilled lizard was interesting at best. Even if Raph was offering the proper meals, it was a challenge to get the picky eater to take it. Early on, Emmi decided to help Liam and drink the shake too--and she was ill for three days. From then on Raph made certain there were 'human safe' shakes for her as well. Fortunately, that encouraged Liam to eat more.

Once breakfast was over, the kids sprinted once again to the tree, ready to bomb the living area with shreds of wrapping paper and loud talking. Emmi was ready to ride her bike all over the floor until Leo insisted that helmets needed to be worn and the bikes could be ridden in the basement only.

Guests weren't due to arrive until later on in the afternoon so there was still some time to tide up a bit, get the kids into presentable clothes and attempt to feed Liam again. The trick was getting him to eat small, frequent amounts. That, of course, meant numerous sippy cups. Sometimes they were found promptly and sometimes not.

" _EW!_ Daddy!" Emmi's call rang through the house. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for her voice to sound the alarm. And it was always for Raphael whether he was at work or not. It made Leonardo a little jealous that the girl had taken to Raph so well. Then again, who wouldn't once one got past the turtle's prickly exterior. The six-year-old always seemed to bring the best out in the brawler. She also managed to find extremely disgusting things so Raph could deal with it.

Raph also heard the disgusted, urgent cry. "If it's a spider, hunny, that's Papa's department." Leo threw the turtle a scathing glare.

"Daddy, _come here!_ "

Then Leo threw his mate a smug look. Raph hauled himself up with a heavy sigh, grumbling to himself about he needed a name change. After disappearing around the corner, Leo relaxed some, smirking as he returned to rinsing out the good stemware for the impending dinner. A vaguely interesting gagging sound came from somewhere in the house that made him pause. The mystery continued when Leo noted a Liam slinking quickly across the doorway.

"Well...now I know why Liam's not gaining any weight." Raph didn't bother to gloat over Leo's grimace as he dumped at least six sippy cups into the trash. The stench of decaying rot was overpowering to the turtles and Leo had a difficult time suppressing his gag reflex.

"Where--urg!...Where was he hiding them?"

How one lizard boy could be stealthy enough to hide away the sippy cups and made it seem like he was consuming them was farfetched. To be able to hide the growing stink from sharp-nosed turtled was nothing short of a miracle. 

"In a Tupperware in the basement. I guess there was a crack in one of the PVC's and he kind of hid the gasses with it."

 _That_ was very clever! Leo stared at his mate as if he was trying to figure out if Raphael's imagination was working over time. "Liam did that."

"Yep." Raph seemed more than annoyed than anything. "I can patch it up right now with duct tape until we can call for a plumber." He was still worked up about the broken pipe, he made a face at the garbage can, deciding to take the trash down to the dumpster and spray an entire can of febreeze or something to kill the smell.

"Use the peppermint oil," Leo advised. "I'm going to find our son."

 _Our son._ That was still a new phrase that Leo was trying to get used to. It was something they were all trying to get used to. Only two months prior they had no Liam, and then Raphael had entered their home, clutching a bedraggled, scrawny little boy and declaring the child was _his_ and CPS could fuck off. Raphael was never fond of protective services and had been vocal of his opinion of them in several instances. After some quiet payments and assurances that nothing would sour, the Hamato's were given guardianship over Liam. It was only a matter of time and protocol before he would be fully adopted. Until then, calling Liam their son had become second nature.

Since the boy's arrival, he had yet to speak. No one knew if frilled lizards had a delayed development and there wasn't anyone the adults could turn to for advice. Leo recalled that Usagi's children had a similar milestone timeline as Emmi but they were all mammalian. No one else he knew had reptilian children. Given Raphael's recant on how Liam became his, Leo had a thought that the boy's silence was more of a survival tactic than anything else. Hell, Liam had become _Liam_ only when Raph found him: the boy's supposed mother couldn't be bothered to tell the turtle the child's name--if she ever gave him one... or if she knew it. And Liam wasn't correcting them if he didn't like the name. 

Pushing enraging thoughts from his mind, he headed to the boy's room. Any human two year old needed to be carefully monitored or corralled to avoid injury or property destruction. Liam had been given more freedoms just because of his past and the fact that mutant children developed mobility and comprehension better and faster than their human counterparts.

Liam's room was like any typical little boy's room. Toy cars, spaceships, other construction vehicles and other things that boys were into at age two. A lamp by the bedside served as a night light that speckled the ceiling with 'stars.' Leonardo knew that the child was here but didn't see any sign of him. The closet door was still shut and the turtle knew that the knob was too heavy for Liam to turn. His eyes trailed to the little pop-up play tent and then lingered on the bed skirt. The direct route didn't work with Liam so Leo decided to sit on the bed, leaning his shell against the headboard and reach for the lizard's favorite book. Flipping to the first page and acting as if Liam was already nestled into his side, Leonardo began to read. 

_"THERE was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.  
"There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse, but the Rabbit was quite the best of all. For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten._

_"For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him. The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real. The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint, caught the tone from them and never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging in technical terms. The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn't know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles. Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion, who was made by the disabled soldiers, and should have had broader views, put on airs and pretended he was connected with Government. Between them all the poor little Rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant and commonplace, and the only person who was kind to him at all was the Skin Horse."_

By the end of the first page, Liam's head had peeked up from under the bed and blinked cautiously at Leo. Carefully crawling up with his purple blanket trailing behind him. He climbed up onto the bed and tucked himself into Leo's side.

"Daddy's not mad at you," Leo murmured softly. The shaky sniffle was all he needed to hear and the boy was trying to climb into Leo's shell with him. "he's more upset that you don't like what he makes. Do you not like it?" He continued to keep his tone quiet, murmuring softly in the boy's ear slit.

The voice that maybe it was okay that Liam not like something was a new concept. They were often at a loss with how best to deal with the child. It was difficult to handle a quiet, sensitive soul but next to impossible when he didn't want to speak. Liam didn't really move away, but he nodded hesitantly.

Feeling the argument, Leo closed his eyes for a moment and squeezed Liam gently. "Tastes pretty yucky?" The nod this time was emphatic. "Okay! We can change that, you know. We didn't know they tasted yucky to you." At Leo's gentle urging, he pulled Liam away from his neck to look at him. The boy's eyes were glassy and he fought to compose himself. Liam had yet to cry and Leo half wondered if it was due to his species that he couldn't or if it was a survival instinct from his past. He offered his son a comforting smile, letting it widen as a shuddering sigh come from the child.

"Don't worry, Liam. We'll just tell Daddy he has to make your shakes less yucky. He's just worried about you. And once we explain to him the problem, he'll be a little...Okay," Leo conceded when he caught Liam's non0plussed expression, "he'll be a _lot_ dramatic. But he'll settle down as he always does. And I'm sure he will let you help him. It'll be like an experiment!" That perked Liam up. Liam thrived off of learning and figuring things out. He had a sharp mind and if Liam's method of keeping the smell of rotting protein shakes meant anything, he had a mind that they might have trouble occupying.

 _Alright_ , Leo thought, _challenge accepted_.


End file.
